A secret parallel universe. Shadow crossed lovers. Monsters in dark corners.
Every Thanksgiving Eve, reserved Jade Miller sees monsters in dark corners and hears voices in the shadows. She knows she’s different, even if her mother refuses to share the family secret. Nerdy Zander Stein has his whole life planned from top grades to law school, but he hasn’t prepared for Jade’s grasp on his heart.
When they learn that the government banishes criminals to a secret parallel universe, Jade believes her life as an average citizen is a lie. She struggles to understand where she belongs, but Zander is convinced they belong together. Whether Jade and Zander decide to join the banished criminals or help the authorities may cause families to split, relationships to break or Woodpine to come under siege.
Review
The book begins with Jade telling us about some shadows she sees through the corner of her eye or in the corners. No one else seems to see them so she starts thinking she’s crazy. At least until, in a crisis after chasing a shadow out of her classroom, Zanders followed her and seemed to also look at the floater, giving Jade hope of not being crazy.
Zanders is the nerdy boy in the class. He has excellent grades and a natural talent for debates. Talent that disappears every time he sees Jade and becomes unable to speak to her.
Zanders and Jade begin to approach but VERY slowly. Until Jade discovers that the truth of floating shadows is a parallel universe with which she’s directly related.
The book is actually written as a diary, but not only Jade’s. Many of the characters tell the story at some point, which makes it quite interesting.
While the book initially seems to be an ordinary love story, it is actually quite different in its development. The story happens almost only on Thanksgiving Eve, so each chapter picks up at least a year later. This leads to us going from a teenage story to a young adult story, which I didn’t expect, but which became quite interesting.
What I do find very funny is that everyone apparently sees the shadows and people usually ignore them, but Jade, her brother Bobby and her cousin Marcus suffer much of their life believing they are crazy instead talking to each other about it.
The paranormal part of the story felt quite irrelevant in the beginning. The shadows appeared, but they could all be crazy instead of there being something paranormal. However, near the end of the book it becomes more important and it’s likely that in the next installment it will become relevant.
For me this book deserves 4/5 stars because it is a different proposal and I enjoyed reading it quite a lot.
Bye bye ?
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Her worst nightmare. His dark past. Can they save their people? A deadly epidemic devastates Whitestrand city.
Healer Natalie Desmond must unravel the disease’s secrets before it spreads. Lives are on the line—among them, her beloved family.
In the wake of an injury, Healer Jules Rayvenwood can no longer use Healing magic. Reluctantly, he works with a former student, Natalie, to regain his abilities. It’s a tough pill to swallow for someone once so gifted in his profession.
Ordered to fight the epidemic as a team, Natalie and Jules must make their partnership work—or face the disastrous consequences.
Will Natalie and Jules save their people in time?
Review
I must confess I wanted to read this book for the cover, for some reason it caught my eye and I honestly didn’t even read the synopsis ?, even though if you look closely the face it’s kinda scary. Fortunately, it turned out to be a really good decision ?.
The book tells the story of Natalie, a Healer from Ismereld, one of the five isles with megaliths that somehow connect with a few people and give them some gifts. For the Healers this gift is the ability to “see” the disease in people’s bodies (Naming) and also activate healing herbs to enhance its effect.
Natalie has been in love with Healer Juliers Rayvenwood since he was her first Naming teacher. Even now, 5 years later she’s suffering as he has gone to war. But her childish infatuation put her in a bad situation when Jules comes back from war hurted and unable to use his Naming. Nat has to work with him from now on, and it seems like the man she liked disappeared in the war and returned a complete asshole in his place. Natalie is an amazing Healer, but she doesn’t have too much confidence about it, and Jules superiority certainly doesn’t help.
They must learn to deal with each other while they find a way to heal a mortal disease that is expanding in their isle.
This book caught my attention immediately. It’s really descriptive and it makes easy to “see” everything happening.
It’s so easy to relate with Nat that I got easily attached to her. And about Jules… he stressed me out but at the same time I love him. He gives a little of fun to the story.
Also, special mention to Jake, Nat’s dog for being the best dog ever. Just wanted to say it.
[su_spoiler title=”Here is a little comment about the end of the book so I’ll put it as a spoiler, although I don’t feel it affects if you read this before the book” icon=”chevron-circle”]I loved the ending of the book, but at the same time I was laughing really hard because it was such a movie ending. I could really picture Nataly in the boat with the wind in her hair and looking at the horizon. With the background music and the camera getting far from her.
[/su_spoiler]
In short, I totally recommend this book and will certainly read the rest of the saga. Even though it had some predictable moments, they all made sense for me. Like, they were things that needed to happen. Also, I loved Kate’s writing style because it had a lot of details without being overwhelming.
Bye bye ?
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*I’d already uploaded this review,
but it got deleted by mistake and I had no backup ?, so this is a simpler version of that one as I’d loved that post and
now can’t remember what I wrote ?*
Synopsis
Twelve-year-old Gracie Freeman is living a normal life, but she is
haunted by the fact that she is actually a character from a story, an
unpublished fairy tale she’s never read. When she was a baby, her parents
learned that she was supposed to die in the story, and with the help of a magic
book, took her out of the story, and into the outside world, where she could be
safe.
But Gracie longs to know what the story says about her. Despite her mother’s
warnings, Gracie seeks out the story’s author, setting in motion a chain of
events that draws herself, her mother, and other former storybook characters
back into the forgotten tale. Inside the story, Gracie struggles to navigate
the blurred boundary between who she really is and the surprising things the
author wrote about her. As the story moves toward its deadly climax, Gracie
realizes she’ll have to face a dark truth and figure out her own fairy tale
ending.
Review
I’ve done this review a long time ago and it goes like this:
This book is a really fast reading as it
keeps you interested from the start.
It tells the story about a girl named Gracie
whose life was literally written. She spent her whole life wanting to know what
this story said about her until she found herself in the middle of something
she would’ve rather not know about.
What I liked a lot about this book is that
whenever you feel you already know what’s going on and what’s coming next it
turns out you’re wrong and the story gives a 360 turn.
I really recommend this book and only took a
star from it because the end left me a little disappointed. It was not bad, but
it was too open for me (unless it has a second part that I’m missing).
Well, now I know it has a second part so the ending of the first book
was actually perfect for a saga.
Synopsis
After learning the truth about her own fairy tale, twelve-year-old
Gracie wants nothing more than to move past the terrible things author Gertrude
Winters wrote about her and begin a new chapter in the real world. If only
things were going as planned. On the run from the evil Queen Cassandra, the
characters from Gracie’s story have all been forced to start over, but some of
them cannot forget Gracie’s checkered past.
Even worse, Gracie discovers that as long as Cassandra has her magical book,
the Vademecum, Gracie’s story is still being written and none of the characters
are safe, including her mom and dad. In a desperate attempt to set things
right, Gracie finds herself transported into another one of Gertrude’s
stories—but this one is a horror story. Can Gracie face her destiny and the
wild beast roaming the night, to rewrite her own story?
Review
Rewritten again tells Gracie’s story, but now that she lives in the real world with her parents and Walter’s in Gertrude Winter’s house. All of this because Cassandra escaped with the Vademecum and they need to remain hidden again.
Gracie was having a relatively normal life until she finds out that
Gertrude had written a lot more stories along with Gracie’s own. Since she read
a few of them, she starts getting glimmers again, just that this time they are
not from her own story.
For making everything worse, Cassandra finds Gracie and tell her that
the Vademecum has started recording every single movement and thought of Gracie,
so they were never actually safe. And staying in the house puts everyone in
danger.
Trying to escape from Cassandra, Gracie and Walter end up inside one of
Gertrude’s story and the worst of them. A horror one.
Now Gracie needs to find a way to get the Vademecum from Cassandra, all
while trying to survive the beast in the story and helping her new friends to
change their ending as she did.
This book again grabs your attention immediately. It’s a nice and fast
reading and even though it’s recommended for people between 10-14 years old I
feel people of any age can enjoy it. At least I did and I’m in my 20’s. A
really fresh turn into fairytales where you get immerse in a story that gets
inside another story.
I love the idea of these story and I felt it was well developed. I fully
recommend this book.
Bye bye ?
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*After reading Exchange, the last book from this saga, I definitely recommend reading this book. Even though the beginning of the story didn’t convince me, it’s final totally worth it.*
Synopsis
Dare to Dream. Dare to Reach. Dare to Love.
In 2065, in a pristine new world called Tandro, Tiegal has everything but the one thing she desires.
Love.
Love is forbidden on Tandro. It’s her world’s only rule.
And she’s about to break it.
Johannes,
a farmer in South Africa, living in 1865, has entered her dreams and
her heart. Defying space, time and a tyrannical
leader, Tiegal escapes Tandro and finds a way to his world and time.
She is finally home.
But her enemies on Tandro will go to any lengths to get her back.
And they are getting closer…
Review
Tiegal is an 18-year-old girl, about to live her Release ceremony in which the youth of Tandro receive their Derado. A jewel capable of channeling their energy.
In Tandro interpersonal relationships have been eliminated. Babies are made with carbon donations from selected volunteers, in a pool with diamonds, which gives them the energy to grow.
One of the greatest effects of this form of reproduction are the eyes of the Tandroans. Their pupils have a diamond shape and shine like flashlights.
Tiegal feels totally out of place. Unlike others, she is unable to hide her thoughts and can read even those that others try to hide. This can be very problematic if your thoughts are constantly questioning the way of life and the robotic system that has created its leader, Atla.
Her dreams don’t help either. Always the same man, with animal eyes (according to Tiegal he has animal eyes because they don’t have a bright pupil), while she is enclosed in a bubble and tries to approach. Tiegal is sure that her destiny is to meet that man.
When Release day finally arrives, Tiegal receives her Derado. With it, she travels mysteriously to the world of the man of her dreams.
Until here the book was pretty confusing for me, as I couldn’t fully understand Tandro functioning. But once Tiegal and Johannes meet things became a little more interesting. While both feel they are destined to be together, their different worlds create quite funny situations between them.
To be honest, it meant a giant effort for me to finish this book. I just didn’t quit because I don’t like to leave books halfway, but it couldn’t keep my interest. However, the basic idea is excellent and not badly developed. In addition, all the facts are linked in time and space in a splendid way. However, this book was not for me.
I feel really bad about making a bad review of a book, so I want to make it clear that it is only my perspective and if you like the style you may love it. It is basically a pink novel, in which the relationship becomes very important, especially in the descriptions, which probably made it boring for me. Also, I never connected with Tiegal. It seems to me that her reactions are exaggerated and she always acts without thinking, which was understandable in the beginning but she never seemed to grow. Johannes also disappointed me towards the end of the book.
It also has sexual content, not explicit but pretty clear.
I may read the following books in the saga, but not for now.
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A little later than I expected, but I finally received my Christmas self-present: SoKawaii subscription box Christmas version.
I’ve been wanting to buy another of these boxes with little things from Japan, and SoKawaii caught my attention since a while, ’till they show in the spoilers the figure of Sakura coming in December box and I got immediately convinced ?.
For buying one you have to enter SoKawaii (If you use this link you get a 10% discount). If you just want to try for a month you can choose the monthly pay option and then cancel the subscription right after.
The first thing we find is a little paper with the box content.
This month, the box contained 6 objects: One Sanrio eco-bag, one Sanrio Christmas plushie for the tree, one Pokemon cloth, one Sanrio hair brush, Sanrio hermetic bags and Card Captor Sakura figure.
The eco-bag I got is a Cinnamoroll version (It’s too beautiful! ?). It says it resist 5 kg and it’s foldable for transport (Probably it has a better folding style than mine ?).
The Christmas ornament is one of my favorite things from this month. It’s a beautiful plushie with a gift box and a jingle bell, that looks even more beautiful when hangs on the tree.
The Pokemon cloth is actually a Furoshiki. According to sir Wikipedia this is “a type of traditional Japanese wrapping cloth traditionally used to transport clothes, gifts, or other goods”. I got the spring version which is really pinky and with those adorable Pikachus ?.
The hairbrush I got is Kuromi’s version, personally my favorite from both. It’s super nice to brush your hair as it’s the type that massage your head and hardly pulls your hair. The star-filled inside is too beautiful, but I noticed that when I brush my hair usually one or two of them fall. Also, you must avoid wetting it (yes, I wet it but it’s already dry ?) as the water gets inside the brush and the design gets wet and the stars stuck. Anyway, it’s my favorite hair brush.
The hermetic bags were unexpected for me and, at first, they didn’t catch my attention, but the truth is that they are of a really good quality. The only problem is that they are M size, so I still don’t find them a use (it’s just that I don’t want to waste them ?).
Sakura’s figure is wonderful. To be honest I was afraid that it had a bad quality but it’s excellent, maybe it has a little lack of details but nothing serious because only the most expensive figures are more detailed. The only critic I could make is that Kero is superimposed instead of fixed. Nevertheless, this shouldn’t be important as the figures don’t tend to be moved.
That’s all from this box. I don’t know when I’ll do another order but when I do it will probably be from SoKawaii, I loved every one of the objects and, above all, I liked the fact that I didn’t feel any of the objects to be useless. If you like kawaii stuffs, I seriously recommend you these boxes.
Bye bye ?
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Even in a world of mythology and stories, fairytales don’t know always come true.
By releasing the Olympians, Hope took a reckless bet. But she must face the odds and play to win, for her sake…as well as humanity’s. Aided by her friends and allies — old and new — Hope crafts the trap meant to ensnare the gods, while striving to survive this dangerous game.
She once championed the Olympian gods. Now, she must challenge them.
Read Olympian Reckoning now to discover the ending to Hope’s heroic journey!
Review
I’ll cite something from the book without any context for avoiding spoilers, but I need to comment this:
Kieron loved me fast and hard, probably a result of a life starved fromhope.
Kieron needed “Hope” in his life…
I’m sorry, now the real review…
This book kicks off right where the last one ended. Hope and Kieron are imprisoned in Olympus, with Kieron being punished day and night by his father.
Everything was part of Hope’s plan. She would be captured by Hermes to set a trap for the gods. The problem is that she didn’t have time to update Kieron, so he tried to defend her from Hermes and ended up captured with her.
As if that wasn’t enough, Hope still owes the Pythia an unknown favor. As it couldn’t be otherwise, the favor the Pythia wants from Hope is that she becomes her replacement, so that she can finally rest. This implies for Hope to live forever as a toy of the gods, in addition to living in celibacy. Although this last part is not that relevant because Kieron, after discovering that he had been captured for Hope’s plan, got fed up with her and left.
Kieron doesn’t seem moved by my declaration… “You’re not some selfless martyr, Hope. You’re a narcissistic little girl with a hero complex.”
Even if Kieron was clearly upset and exaggerated a little about Hope, I do agree that she has a huge hero complex. Since the first book it was clear she can’t avoid helping others, and she feels all the weight of the gods is in her shoulders. Although she may not be so wrong about this.
I never mean to rush into trouble headfirst. It’s not my fault if trouble always seems to find me.
At least Hope’s initial plan worked, the gods drank her tears restoring their immortality and cracking the Fabric that got them caught in Olympus. But drinking her tears they became vulnerable, now they can be killed. The new problem is that killing the gods, so they don’t murder humans, is unuseful. If the principal gods die, the world dies with them. It is necessary to intimidate them and find a prison in case they don’t want to surrender. Easy right?
Billions of lives depend on me, a clueless teenager with no self-preservation instinct.
One of the options to imprison the gods is contacting Thetis who, at Hope’s own request, isn’t answering the contact attempts. The only other option is the Underworld, which implies asking Hades for help… This option seems pretty impossible as it is, and Kieron keeps refusing to ask his father for help.
The Pythia said “Hades is a powerful god. He is perhaps the only Olympian capable of taking on Zeus.”
“It doesn’t seem that way. His siblings despise him.” I point out. “Why?”
“Because Hades, for all his flaws, has something they never had–“
I snort. “A black, black heart?”
“No, girl. Hades hasn’t lost his ability to care.”
Hope must find the prison for the gods, in addition to gathering all possible allies. Kieron remains her ally even though they are no longer together. At least Hope has Gabriel, Eros, Amy and the heroes who “trained” them for the competition. But she also has her mother at last, already cured of the demigods disease. Teresa is an extraordinary woman, very overprotective and not afraid of the gods. I think the funniest parts of the book are thanks to her. Also, by some chance, Hope is reunited with Lily, her best friend.
I huddle close to her, feeling happier and more at peace than I have in years… No one that I love has died in weeks — life is good.
And here… as it couldn’t be other way, I was right and Heath is back. Now he is Kieron’s shadow and apparently Lily’s new boyfriend target. To be honest he’s not so bad now. He clearly suffered a lot and is trying to fic his mistakes, but I really don’t like this character.
I honestly enjoyed this book and I managed to get into the story a lot more than the other two. However, the end disappointed me horribly. The worst of this is that it’s not a bad ending. On contrary, for me the idea was excellent, but it’s too incomplete. I felt that only Hope got a proper ending, while the rest of the characters were ignored and we don’t know what happened with them.
[su_spoiler title=”Here are a few huge spoilers of the end of the book, don’t open this if you haven’t read it.” icon=”chevron-circle”]I felt the war got stuck right in the middle, it didn’t finish. At least the things could have been explained later, for example, when Hope read the newspaper. Hope’s death felt like a good idea. In the end it gave Hope and Kieron the eternity they wished to have. Although I don’t get the point of Hope being indestructible. Eros’s death… Felt awfully unnecessary for me. It may have been useful for Aphrodite to surrender, but I felt this needed more developing. And, above all, Hope died and at least her mother is fine but, what about Lily? And Gabriel, that lost his boyfriend and best friend? And Amy as the new Pythia? Hope could have asked for them at least. It was like they didn’t matter anymore.
[/su_spoiler]
For me this book deserves 3 stars. Deciding this was extremely hard because I have mixed feelings. I love the plot, love the characters, love Astrid, I even love the covers. But maybe is precisely the reason I wasn’t satisfied with the end. I still recommend this book and I enjoyed a lot reading it as I felt it wasn’t predictable, it has some funny parts, some romance and, of course, mythology that fascinates me. It just left me with a bad taste because I feel that if the end had had a couple more chapters it would have been much better and deserved at least 4.5 stars.
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A newly-crowned Greek heroine. An impossible search for eternal life. If her godly quest succeeds, she may just doom humanity. Hope always kept her feet on the ground until she started flying with the Greek gods. After being crowned the new heroine of Olympus, she’s become her own myth and legend. But when the gods give Hope a challenge to find the goddess of eternal life, she’s caught in a deadly dilemma.
As she travels back to the earthly realm to fulfill her mission, Hope knows that carrying out her task would sacrifice humanity. But when she discovers her own mysterious legacy, her choices become that much more complicated.
Olympian Heritage is the second book in the Olympic Challenger series of YA urban fantasy trilogy that fans of Rick Riordan and Suzanne Collins are sure to devour. If you like heroic quests, riveting action, Greek mythology, forbidden romance, and feats of courage, then you’ll love Astrid Arditi’s heroic coming-of-age tale.
Review
I must start this review with a confession: This is the second time I read this book. The first time I read it I didn’t like it. I never felt it was a bad story, but I felt nothing. However, the truth is that, in that moment, I read the book extremely fast and I didn’t want my opinion to be influenced by this. So I decided to give this book a second chance when the third one came out.
Hope has won the gods challenge. Now, for proving her loyalty as their champion, she’s forced to fulfill a new mission on Earth. Finding Hebe, daughter of Zeus who was kidnapped just before the divide and with the fount of youth.
For this mission, Hope is accompanied by Eros, Gabriel and Amy. Kieron promises he will accompany her through the shadows, but Hope is furious with him and as she doesn’t see him on Earth, she gets even more upset. Besides, she has forbidden coming close to her mother, who believes her daughter abandoned her… The little times she’s lucid enough.
With many new creatures and powers, Hope finds unexpected allies. From Amazons, Centaurs, even a god, Raiden.
Raiden turns out way too useful and he always know where to find Hope, which is something suspicious. Although it may be that Hope is too predictable, as there’s a weird man with blue eyes waiting her in every place and saying they need to talk.
If it wasn’t enough with the stalkers, now Hope seems to be in the middle of a teenager crisis that causes her uncontrollable crying. But, maybe it’s not a simple crisis…
Hope finds out that everything she though she knew was a lie, and she’s forced to take a decision that doesn’t have a correct answer.
Again, we find different myths or interesting stories from the secondary characters like Persephone, also there are new characters pretty interesting. There also seem to be many subplots that intertwine as the story progresses. But then, why didn’t I love it?
This is a question I can’t answer. There’s one thing in this story that deeply bothered me and it’s the anger of Hope against Kieron. No matter how many times I re-read or the effort I did, I couldn’t understand Kieron’s betrayal. Out of that the story is good, however, I never felt compelled not to drop the book.
For me this book deserves 3.5/5 stars. However, I can’t avoid recommending it as I loved the first part and I still like the base plot. I have faith that the last book will compensate all the feelings that this one didn’t give me. I repeat, it’s not a bad book, it just disappointed me a little (You don’t know how it hurts me not giving it more stars ?).
Bye bye ?
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* I made this review a long time ago but I hadn’t upload it in this page and I think it’s important as I’ll upload the review of the second and third books. *
Synopsis
A hero’s tournament. A defiant contender. Does one girl have the courage to take on Mount Olympus?
Hope’s
world doesn’t have room for heroes. She barely has time for schoolwork,
swim team, and taking care of her ailing mother. But when she’s invited
to a mysterious tournament, the all-powerful hosts won’t take no for an
answer.
Transported to Mount Olympus, Hope comes face to face
with her new trainers—the pantheon of Greek gods. While other contenders
train hard to gain a fighting edge, Hope searches for a way out.
Instead, she finds a gorgeous shadow god who may just convince her to
stay…
As each round unfolds, the ultimate prize draws closer—the
granting of her heart’s deepest desire. If she survives the final
challenge, her mother’s cure would be within reach…but only if Hope can
ignore the tournament’s dark purpose.
Olympian Challenger
is the first book in a bold YA urban fantasy trilogy. If you like Greek
mythology, forbidden romance, and feats of courage, then you’ll love
Astrid Arditi’s heroic coming-of-age tale.
Review
I have always loved Greek mythology and the last saga I read before starting this book was also about this, so I was pretty obsessed with the subject before starting and had really high expectations about it.
In brief this book seems totally recommendable to me and it fulfilled my expectations, I can’t give it 5 stars because I felt the whole book that I was reading a story instead of really feeling part of it. But I have faith in the following books, I look forward to them (2019 u.u)
The book itself was easy to read and I only had a couple of problems to understand some parts until the context guided me (this may have been because I am not a native English speaker). In fact more than once I got confused if they were talking about Hope the protagonist or about having hope. (Dishonor to my cow for this XD)
The central theme behind the story, the competition, was very entertaining and included enough mythology as a bonus. As for the characters, some just were lovely like Gabriel and Amy. Hope is also an interesting character but it is soooo good that it gets stressful sometimes XD. Most of the characters are introduced drop by drop, which makes you begin to really like them when the story is well advanced. Especially with Kieron, I love his character but I feel I knew him very little and I wish I had seen a little more of his personality change cause it was too drastic for me. Anyway, I’m not too worried about this ‘cause it’s only the first book in the series and we will have time to get to know everyone better and get deeper into the world that Astrid presents to us. Regarding the gods … I love them because they are excessively imperfect. The heroes are much better though, especially Bellerophon (whose name is not so difficult but for some reason I am unable to say aloud XD), but I deeply desire the power of Aphrodite…
Now I need a second to express … probably Heath is the character that I’ve hated the most in centuries! When I started reading, I was sure that he would be part of the typical love triangle and that we would understand why he does everything and blablabla. BUT NOOOOOO, he’s just a damn bastard, if you read this, feel free to hate him from the beginning, do not bother thinking about it XD. Actually I swear I hated him more every chapter and that just reading his name makes me angry, I just Hope (see what I did here? xD) that I’m not offending an important character for Astrid, if so I’m reaaaaally sorry but I still hate him 🙂
I just need to add that I really got kind of obsessed while I read the book and ended in every Astrid group in facebook, don’t even know how that happened. And that I’m IN LOVE with the cover. I strongly recommend to give this book a try.
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Axlin’s world is full of monsters. Some attack the travelers on the roads, others besiege the villages until they manage to completely destroy them and others enter the houses at night to take the children while they sleep.
Axlin is the scribe of her village, the only one who can read and write. And she has decided to investigate everything she can about monsters and translate her findings into a book that can serve as a guide and protection for other people. That is why she decides to leave with the peddlers to gather the ancestral wisdom of the villages in their precarious fight against the monsters. However, throughout her trip she will discover things she would have never imagined when she left.
Review
The book tells the story of Axlin, a girl who lives in a village, here they are known as “enclaves”, in which they must try day by day to survive, as monsters constantly lurk in order to kill humans. Kill, don’t eat.
Axlin herself knows for sure, because a “knobbly” left her with a limp for life, a lower price if we take into account that she was lucky enough to survive.
This fact, among others of her life, generated in her a great curiosity to know and discover ways to protect themselves from monsters. For example, in her enclave, everyone was shaved to avoid “longfingers” (I think it’s the worst enclave just for this ?).
Since everyone worked to survive. No one knew or was interested in learning to read, only the scribe of the village knew, and he chose Axlin as his successor.
<< Axlin, thirteen years old, is the new scribe of the enclave >>
So far I was sure that I had understood what the story was about, but I was very wrong.
Axlin begins to write a book to capture everything she learns about monsters thanks to the peddlers and her own experiences in the village, but she soon realizes that if she wants to continue with her book, she needs to get out of her enclave. Like this she begins her journey with the peddlers, learning from the wisdom of each of the villages she passes.
For situations that I will not mention so I don’t ruin the book to anyone, Axlin meets Xein, an extremely handsome young man with a very strange characteristic, his eyes are golden. Even stranger, he seems to feel no fear of monsters, he even thinks he is capable of hunting them. Will he simply be crazy or have any reason?
Xein was calm and confident; normally, his attitude was enough for her to relax too, or at least a little. However, a disturbing idea crossed his mind suddenly: What if Xein was crazy?
Axlin and Xein don’t have much time to spend together, but they still generate a powerful relationship that, unfortunately, must be postponed, because Axlin feels she can’t leave her mission incomplete.
– And you? If you met a special girl … would you be willing to leave with her? …
– I wonder what kind of boy would be willing to lay with you on the roads cataloging monsters – he countered. And Axlin found herself answering: -Maybe one who doesn’t fear the monsters. A hunter, and not a prey.
I feel it could have been a very good book so far, and the truth is that here the best is just beginning.
El Bestiario de Axlin is a complete book. It has adventure, action, romance, suspense and more! You really don’t want to put it down since you start reading, and it’s only the first part. There are many characters and each of them feels real, not just as a filler. The protagonists in particular have an impressive development as they discover who they are, and must fight against who they are supposed to be.
From the beginning I could realize that it would not be a simple light reading, because the story begins quite dark and the descriptions of the monsters are macabre, especially when contrasted with their very simple names. One of the things that caught my attention and I really liked is the analysis of the society that is done in the book: It really serves to beat the monsters, or in a world where humans do not need to worry about surviving, they can become something worse than monsters?
I’ve said that it’s very difficult for me to put 5 stars to the first book of a saga. But this one deserves it by far. I can’t wait to see the new twist that this story will take in the following books.
Bye bye 💕
* When I did this review there was no English version *
* I read this book in Spanish and some things are translated by me, so they may not be identical to the English version *
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Marked for death, Sabine escaped from her home more than ten years ago.
But the Wild Hunt will never give up.
It should have been easy to stay hidden. All Sabine had to do was keep her head down, avoid telling anyone about her past, and above all else — not let her glamour drop.
Even the best-laid plans eventually fall apart.
When a charismatic stranger arrives in the city, Sabine finds herself unwittingly drawn to him and the power she can sense hidden within him. Keeping her distance is nearly impossible, especially after a life debt is called due and she’s tasked into helping steal a rare artifact.
In order to break the magical barriers protecting the item and save her companions, Sabine will be forced to drop her glamour and reveal her true identity.
Unfortunately, the Fae aren’t the only ones hunting her.
And the most dangerous monsters aren’t always confined to the dark.
Review
This is a book full of magic, adventure and love. Mostly the love you feel for your friends, who become your family.
The book begins with the story of Sabine, a Fae descendant who has escaped from her home more than 10 years ago to save her life. Since then she has lived in Akros, one of the cities with the greatest diversity of races, protected by Dax, a demon that dominates much of the city’s commerce.
When Sabine falls into a trap, she’s helped by a strange ship captain who has just arrived in the city to do business with Dax. His name is Malek and the attraction between them is undeniable from the first moment they see each other. Sabine realizes that Malek is not a human, but she doesn’t know what kind of creature he is, nor does she care.
But, should she care who Malek really is? Besides, why is Sabine running away? What is Malek really doing in Akros? These and many other questions are not answered until beyond the middle of the book, but the surprising thing is that at no time I thought about stop reading it. The suspense catches you and it becomes a need to know the whole story.
The descriptions of the characters and places are very good and allow it to be easy to live the story you are reading.
As for the characters themselves, Sabine and Malek are amazing. As you get to know them you can see they are complex people, with a past that does not define who they are in the present. The others are also good characters, but we don’t get to know them that much, so they have less development, however, it’s easy to like most of them. Sabine in particular is a wonderful character. She has been able to become a strong and brave woman, but she is also able to realize when she needs help.
I try to save the 5 stars for my favorite books ever and it’s almost impossible that I give them to a book 1 in a saga as there’s so much more left to know. This is the only reason I gave this book 4 stars, although it’s probably around 4.5. For me it is totally recommendable, and I can’t wait to read the second part.
Can we take a second to appreciate the drawing before each chapter?
It’s too beautiful!
I really would like to say more about this book, but I feel anything else I could say would be a spoiler, so just go and grab your copy!
EDIT: First, this book deserves 5 stars, I have no idea what was I thinking. Second, I just saw this book trailer and it’s amazing! Had to share it.
Bye bye ?
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* After reading the complete saga, I think the best order to read it is the original. Starting with Spell Speakers or Step into Magic. But reading these two before Kissing Magic and Within Magic. It is true that is not necessary to understand the story. But it’s necessary to feel it complete. *
Synopsis
Magic has never been as dangerous.
Troubled by dreams of Sian in danger, Karina opens a new portal.
But instead of going to Whyland, she breaks the defenses against
Lumina, an ethereal city with advanced and dangerous magic. Not only
that, she ends up powerless, alone, and without any awareness of her magic, trapped in a strange land where not even her mind is safe.
Sian has an impossible task: defeat the gigantic Maris king. A victory doesn’t mean a ticket home, though. In his struggle, he’ll come across magic more powerful than he ever imagined.
Intruders in Whyland force Cayla and Darian to go to the Light Gardens, where more truths and secrets are about to be revealed.
Stranded across dimensions, how will these characters come together again?
Get immersed in this action-packed, emotional conclusion to Portals to Whyland, recommended for teens 13 and up.
You’ll find adventure, romance, intrigue, revelations, and magic. Start reading it now!
Review
This book has a totally different tone from the previous ones. From the beginning it felt much darker, not losing its essence, but the protagonists suffered too much in a very short time.
Everybody was sent back where they belonged. This means that Karina was back in her own dimension, with all the portals closed. Away from Whyland. Away from Sian.
After 6 months of research, Karina went with Zoe to meet a stranger who claimed to have a teleporting tower. This was clearly a bad idea, but Karina was desperate, especially since she kept dreaming that Sian was in danger.
Things were even more complex than she expected, as she ended up opening a portal to Lumina, one of the ethereal cities, which had long been isolated for trying to conquer others. Karina ended up being kidnapped by the people of Lumina for being able to open portals, and was tricked by Satwak (with a very dirty trick in my opinion), the leader’s nephew, to get her help.
Meanwhile, Sian had been sent to Marisia, since he had to fulfill his promise and defeat their current king. The mission was impossible for a human even against a normal Maris, and the king was much larger than these. His only chance was that his dream was right and he had more power than he thought. Being without shoes…
Still, he was surprised that he remained there. The realization that he was in a dream usually pulled him awake.
The woman exhaled and smiled. Her hood covered the top of her face, but he could feel her eyes piercing him. “The fight tomorrow. Don’t wear shoes.”
This was quite odd advice.
On the other hand, in Siphoria, Darian and Cayla are finally having a nice relationship. Darian was named Grand General by Lylah, while Cayla is practicing self-defense and trying to be friends with Alessa, her coach. Everything was going perfect until Lumina was unlocked. Lylah involuntarily evacuated Cayla and Darian to Light Gardens to protect them from the people of Lumina, the same ones who had Karina.
Sian: One of the biggest reasons I liked this saga. Sian is finally learning about his powers, but he is also learning about himself. After being with Karina, he understood that feelings don’t necessarily make you weak. But, after having to survive in Marisia, he doesn’t really know who he is anymore. Clearly, all his suffering in this place, plus everything he suffered as a child made a dent in him. For the first time he has to learn how to cope with emotions, instead of burying them. His evolution in incredible, because he is learning from his mistakes and wants to do things right this time. However, there were times when I felt it was not like himself. Above all, I needed more of his sarcastic and overreacted attitude.
Karina: She looks stunning on the cover, it’s my favorite! It’s always easy to identify with Karina, and it’s nice to grow up with her. She has become much stronger and more determined. She wasn’t going to accept not seeing Sian again, nor losing her chance to become a guardian. However, things do not turn out as she expected and ends up trapped in Lumina. This time we get to know this ethereal city through her eyes, while she tries to remember the last two years of her life, the ones she has spent in Lumina’s royal family with her husband … Wait, what?
Cayla: She is finally beginning to mature, which implies that she needs to fix her relationship with. Although this is not easy when the two are unable to hold a conversation without attacking each other. She is also determined to learn self-defense and make friends. All while enjoying her relationship with Darian. But things get complicated when she is forced to escape to Light Gardens.
Darian: At first I thought he wouldn’t be really important in this story, but I’m glad I was wrong. Darian has finally understood that he should not overprotect Cayla. He has matured a lot and wants to have a true relationship with his brother. He is also for the first time in a real searching for his powers (for which he becomes something between a hippie and a buddha).
Satwak: Nephew of the leader of Lumina, he’s crazy. Karina is kidnapped and then Sat erases her memory to protect her from her uncle. Or not? I would have liked to know him better, he is a very interesting character. I still hate him, but he’s interesting.
For me this book deserves 4.5 / 5 stars. I really wanted to give it 5, but something was missing. I had a hard time understanding what it was, but I think I already know. It could give much more. It is a very good book, but the created world and the characters presented are so many and so good, that there isn’t enough time to cover everything.
As in the previous books, so many things happened that some of them simply lost relevance along the way. At least most of my doubts from Kissing Magic got an answer.
I liked the style of Day very much. I love that there is so much humor and sarcasm in the book. But above all I admire her imagination. From creating a new world, she went on to create dimensions, creatures and powers. With a really endless resource of imagination.
This book, and the whole saga are totally recommended for spending a pleasant time, in a world surrounded by magic and wonderful characters.
He was raised to resist them. Now he has to join them.
14-year-old Darian was raised in an isolated village in Whyland, among people who resisted the oppression of the King and his army. When his life takes a tragic turn, he ends up living in the King’s castle, forced to train in the military academy, closer to his enemies than he has ever dreamed. His only solace is Cayla, a girl he befriends at the castle, who helps him smile and feel whole again, with whom he slowly falls in love, whose identity he ignores at his own peril.
But the castle holds more dangers than expected. Darian has to thread carefully if he wants use his position to help Whyland find freedom and remain alive.
Spell Speakers is a coming-of-age fantasy novella introducing characters featured in the upcoming series Portals to Whyland.
Review
It is probably my favorite book from the saga. Knowing Darian and Cayla’s relationship at last, in addition to each other’s past, explains a lot about why each of them did the things they do in the future. I definitely think the saga should be read in order, starting with this. While it is true that you can understand the story without reading them all, the feeling is completely different.
Cayla, Darian and Sian have many reasons to be as they are. And we can only fully understand them once we know their full history. For example, in step into Magic I liked Darian’s appearance, but now that I know how things went, everything makes a lot more sense. The same with the evolution of Sian’s and Cayla’s personality.
In this short novel we can know the love story between Darian and Cayla, from his point of view. It is a wonderful story of a first love that begins as a friendship in a secret garden. Unfortunately, they are forced to postpone their relationship.
It is also an interesting family story, because we finally know how Sian and Darian met. And how they attempt to relate with great difficulties.
Basically, it is a warm story, which gives us as a bonus a little more information about the village where Darian was raised and the capital, Siphoria. And the state of the latter upon Karina’s arrival in Whyland. Totally recommended.
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